Kharavela

Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"

Meaning

Kharavela was a Jain king of Kalinga (coastal Odisha) from the Chedi dynasty (also written Cheti, or the Mahameghavahana line). He probably ruled in the 1st century BCE, though this date is still debated. [2] He matters because his Hathigumpha inscription is a rare year-by-year record of a king's reign. It shows that regional powers grew strong in post-Mauryan India, not only the Shungas, Satavahanas and Kushanas.

Explanation

Background: Kalinga becomes free again

• Ashoka fought the Kalinga war and brought Kalinga under Mauryan rule.
• Mauryan power broke up after c. 185 BCE. Kalinga then became free again.
• A new ruling house took over. This was the Chedi dynasty, and Kharavela was its best-known king.
• His exact date is unsettled. One view, which Britannica gives "with some debate", places him in the 1st century BCE. [2]

Kharavela the "monk-king"

• He followed Jain teachings closely. He is called bhikshu-raja, which means "monk-king".
• He did not attack other faiths. The record says he "respected all schools of thought".
• He calls himself "respector of every sect and repairer of every temple". Two things go together here:
• he gave money and stone to his own faith, Jainism;

• he also repaired and paid for the shrines of other groups.

• He says he called a "council of ascetics and sages" from a hundred regions. This was a large religious meeting, not a war council.

• NCERT sees this support for many sects as part of the "Indian ethos": a king had to protect all sects, not only his own.

What he did: war and public works

• The Hathigumpha inscription lists his deeds year by year. It has two main kinds of entries.
• Military campaigns, which were marches outside Kalinga. He claims campaigns:
• in the western Deccan;
• against the Yavanas (Indo-Greeks);

• against Magadha, the old centre of the Mauryan empire. [2]

• Welfare works:

• repairs to city gates and walls;
• tanks and canals;
• gifts to monks and to shrines.

Results and legacy

• A new kind of royal record. The king speaks in the first person ("I"), counts his own regnal years, and lists both conquests and public works.
• Conquest alone was not enough. To look like a good king, he also had to show care for his people.
• Jain cave homes. The Udayagiri–Khandagiri caves near Bhubaneswar were mainly homes for Jain monks. Cave-cutting there began in about the 2nd century BCE. [2]

Time, place and evidence

• Period: post-Mauryan India (c. 185 BCE – 300 CE). Kharavela himself probably belongs to the 1st century BCE, but this is debated. [2]
• Dynasty and region: the Chedi (Cheti / Mahameghavahana) dynasty of Kalinga, in coastal Odisha.
• Main source: the Hathigumpha inscription
• "Hathigumpha" means "Elephant Cave". The text is cut into the rock on Udayagiri hill, near Bhubaneswar.
• It is written in Brahmi, the script from which most later Indian scripts grew.
• Its special feature is a year-by-year record. Each regnal year gets its own line of deeds. Very few ancient Indian kings left records like this.

• Old copies and readings of these Brahmi records are kept on the Indian Culture Portal (Ministry of Culture), under Old Brahmi Inscriptions in the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves. [4]

• The site: Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves

• These are rock-cut caves. Workers did not build the rooms from blocks. They carved the halls out of the living rock.
• They sit on twin hills, Udayagiri ("sunrise hill") and Khandagiri. The older names of the hills are Kumari and Kumara parvata. [2]
• There are 33 rock-cut caves in total across both hills. [2][3]
• The caves were mainly dwelling retreats for Jain monks. They are small, plain cells for sleeping and meditation, not temples. [2]
• Cave-cutting went on from about the 2nd century BCE to the 10th century CE. So later work sits on top of work from Kharavela's time. [2]

• Ranigumpha ("Queen's Cave") is the grandest. It is double-storeyed, with cells cut on three sides of an open courtyard, and covered in ornate carving. [2][3] One carved panel shows a scene from the Ramayana. This is early proof that the epic already appeared in stone art.

• Heritage status: the site is a centrally protected, ticketed ASI monument. [3] In 2015, a Union Culture Ministry inspection of the caves discussed adding e-ticketing. [5]

Don't confuse with

• Ashoka and Kalinga: Ashoka conquered Kalinga for the Mauryas. Kharavela ruled a Kalinga that was free again after Mauryan power broke up. He even claims to have attacked Magadha, the old Mauryan centre.
• Hathigumpha vs Ranigumpha: Hathigumpha ("Elephant Cave") holds Kharavela's Brahmi inscription. Ranigumpha ("Queen's Cave") is the double-storeyed, richly carved cave of monks' cells.
• Udayagiri caves (Madhya Pradesh): the Udayagiri near Vidisha is a Gupta-period Hindu cave site. Kharavela's Udayagiri is in Odisha, near Bhubaneswar, and is mainly Jain.
• Chedi Mahajanapada: this was an older Chedi state among the sixteen Mahajanapadas, in central India. Kharavela's Chedi dynasty ruled Kalinga in the post-Mauryan period.

Prelims Hooks

• Kharavela: Chedi (Cheti / Mahameghavahana) dynasty, Kalinga (Odisha). He followed Jainism and was called bhikshu-raja ("monk-king").
• Hathigumpha inscription: Brahmi script, a year-by-year record of his reign, on Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar.
• He claims campaigns against the Yavanas and Magadha, and in the western Deccan. [2]
• Udayagiri and Khandagiri: 33 rock-cut caves, mainly homes for Jain monks. Their older names are Kumari and Kumara parvata. [2][3]
• Ranigumpha: double-storeyed, with cells on three sides of an open court. Cave-cutting at the site ran from c. 2nd century BCE to the 10th century CE. [2][3]
• Trap: Kharavela's date is not settled. "Probably 1st century BCE" is the usual view, not a fixed fact. [2]

Mains Points

• A new idea of kingship after the Mauryas. Kharavela's record lists wars alongside tanks, canals and gate repairs.
• A king now drew his right to rule from two sources: victory and public welfare.

• The same pattern appears in Satavahana and later Gupta records.

• Personal faith vs state policy. Kharavela was a committed Jain, yet he claims to have repaired every sect's shrines.

• This keeps the ruler's private religion apart from state support for religion.

• It is a useful GS-I example of the long roots of religious tolerance in India.

• Regional powers and the limits of inscriptions as sources. Kalinga's revival shows post-Mauryan India as many rival regional states. Magadha was now just one rival among several.

• Almost all we know about Kharavela comes from one rock inscription and the caves around it.
• Its strength: it is a dated, first-hand record.
• Its limits: it is royal boasting, and we have no other source to check it against.

Related concepts

• Chedi dynasty
• Hathigumpha inscription

Read more

• Kharavela and the Chedis of Kalinga